The Night of the Passover

“When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” — Exodus 12:13

God told Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go. In fact, he will drive you out.”

The last plague would be the most terrible of all. At midnight, God would pass through Egypt, and the oldest son in every family would die, from the son of Pharaoh on his throne to the son of the poorest servant girl, and even the firstborn of the animals.

But God gave His people a way to be safe.

“Every family must choose a lamb,” God said. “It must be a young male lamb, perfect, with nothing wrong with it. On the fourteenth day of the month, at evening, you must kill the lamb. Then take some of its blood and paint it on the sides and the top of the doorframe of your house.

“That night you must roast the lamb and eat it, with flat bread made without yeast, and with bitter herbs. Eat it with your sandals on your feet and your walking stick in your hand, ready to go. Eat it quickly. It is the Lord’s Passover.

“When I pass through Egypt that night, the blood on your houses will be a sign. When I see the blood, I will pass over you.”

So the Israelites did just what God said. In every Israelite home, a lamb was killed and its blood painted on the doorframe. The families stayed inside, dressed for a journey, eating their meal and waiting.

At midnight it happened, just as God had said. All over Egypt, the oldest sons died. There was loud crying everywhere in Egypt, because there wasn’t a single house where someone hadn’t died.

But in the houses with the blood on the door, everyone was safe. God passed over them.

That very night, Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron. “Get up!” he said. “Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go and worship the Lord, as you asked. Take your flocks and herds and go!”

The Egyptians begged the Israelites to hurry. The Israelites didn’t even have time to let their bread rise. They picked up their bread dough in its bowls, wrapped in their cloaks, and carried it on their shoulders. And the Egyptians gave them silver and gold and clothes as they left.

So the Israelites marched out of Egypt, about six hundred thousand men, and their wives and children too, and their flocks and herds. After 430 years in Egypt, God’s people were free!

God told them to remember that night every year, with a special meal called the Passover. Jewish families still remember it today.

Looking ahead to Jesus: The Bible says, “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7). Jesus died on the cross at Passover time. Just as the lamb’s blood kept the families safe, Jesus’ death keeps everyone who trusts Him safe from the punishment for sin.

Read it in your Bible: Exodus 11–12

Dear God, thank you that you gave the Israelites a way to be safe. Thank you for sending Jesus to be my Passover lamb. Amen.